Address: 550 Road 302, Deweese, NE 68934
Hours: Call in advance for a tour.
Overview
St. Martin’s Catholic Church in rural Deweese stands across the road from the burial grounds of immigrants from the Loučky region of Moravia (now Czech Republic) who built the church in 1907-08 as part of their new life on the fertile soils of the Midwestern prairie which they named Loučky (meadows). The “Carpenter Gothic” building glows in the peaceful setting surrounded by century-old cedar trees, tended with care by the second and third generation descendants of the pioneer homesteaders. The original wood altars inside (shipped from Wisconsin in August 1910) bear saint statues chosen as models and intercessors as the farmers built their community with the fourth century Bishop St. Martin of Tours as their patron. Other traditional statues reflect the Czech heritage and their devotion to the Sacred Heart, Mary and St. Joseph. The heritage church was entered to the National Register of Historic Places on September 26, 1985.
Special things to see in the Church
• The Holy Trinity is reflected in the three altars with three statues on each. On the main altar, St. Martin is flanked by the “Apostles of the Slavs” (St. Cyril on the left and his brother St. Methodius on the right). On the south side altar, the Blessed Mother is accompanied by the Carmelite nun, St. Therese of Lisieux (“Little Flower”) and the Infant Jesus of Prague (a devotion spread by the Carmelites). On the north side altar, the Sacred Heart of Jesus statue stands between Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Joseph the Worker with a stem of lilies (purity) and an ax in his left hand.
• The Stations of the Cross were blessed by Bishop John Henry Tihen in 1914 and commemorated by a plaque in Latin near the entrance of the nave.
• The church was designed by James H. Craddock, the architect for approximately 35 other Nebraska churches, including 4 Czech churches such as St. John Nepomucene Church in Weston and Holy Trinity in Brainard. It is reported that St. Luke Church in Loma (another Czech church) was modeled from the Loučky church. The builder was John E. King of Spring Ranch, and aided by parishioners
Interesting Facts About the Church
This is the second church of St. Martin in Loučky. The first was refashioned in 1899 from an old farmhouse donated by Frantiska Sebek and converted to a little chapel (16 x 24 feet). The second church was started in 1907 on an acre of land donated by Julius Mazour. The construction was slowed in late 1907 when what is thought to be a tornado destroyed the structure, but was quickly completed with the first Mass on Christmas Day, 1908.
The church was closed abruptly in 1956 and the parish was asked to join with the Assumption Parish in Deweese. It is told that the people mounted a Rosary-prayer-campaign in the church for three months before a visit to the Bishop in Lincoln resulted in the re-opening of the church for another seventeen years. The church was closed on July 1, 1973 and sold to the Clay County Historical Society for historic and cultural preservation.
